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Gandhi had an extraordinary ability to process his life experience
As we saw in the previous entry, a major turning point in Gandhi’s life occurred when, as a young lawyer in South Africa, he was removed from a first class train seat because of the color of his skin. While one can certainly not deny the importance of this turning point event in Gandhi’s life, I would argue that it is not the experience, or the personal crisis, that makes the leader, or the hero. If the catalyst were the experience itself, we should wonder about all the others who had comparable incidents in their lives and never became the great leader that Gandhi became. How many others had similar … Continue reading
We are wrong to think that leaders have extraordinary past experiences
As I have traveled throughout the world for a number of years, I have been struck by the prevalence of this particular myth. In my coaching or teaching, I have often encountered the entrenched opinion that there is something extraordinary or “special” in the life experience of people who emerge as leaders. In other words, people such as Gandhi are “formed”, “shaped” or “molded” by watershed or crucible events in their lives. Their life experience is perceived as somehow unusual, and these out-of-the-ordinary events in their lives have prepared them for their role as transformational leaders. The more one looks below the surface, the more one sees that the “extraordinary … Continue reading
